XCOR Aerospace began test firing a fairly new jet design concept, this Methane Rocket Engine is to overcome some of the engineering challenges. This XCOR spacecraft named Lynx is a rocket ship type plane capable of sub-orbital flight to altitudes more than 60 kilometers above the ground. By definition this rocket engine is to lift the sub-orbital craft to a spaceflight altitude higher than 100 kilometers above sea level. Sub-orbital tourist flights will initially focus on attaining the altitude required to qualify as 'reaching space.' The take-off flight will be a highly juiced g-force ride, either vertical or very steep and landing very much like a plane or shuttle. The spacecraft will probably shut off its engines well before reaching maximum altitude and then coasting up to its highest point. Those few minutes from where the engines shut off to the point where the atmosphere begins to slow down the downward acceleration, the passengers will experience true 'weightlessness.' The XCOR Lynx being launched in Mojave California today; the spacecraft is expected to be scheduling regular flights by 2010. read the full Tomitheos story: http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/human-spaceflights-space-tourism-and-time-travel-reality ...
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